Eli Erlick, (right) and her long time friend Jenny Watts (left) in a classroom on Wednesday March 13th 2013 at the Willits Charter School. Watts and Erlick have been friends since the 7th grade.

Eli Erlick, (right) and her long time friend Jenny Watts (left) in a classroom on Wednesday March 13th 2013 at the Willits Charter School. Watts and Erlick have been friends since the 7th grade.

Photo: Sam Wolson, Special To The Chronicle

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Transgender student Eli Erlick (center), in her senior year, is with her father, Jason Erlick, the school business manager, in the Willits Charter School office.

Transgender student Eli Erlick (center), in her senior year, is with her father, Jason Erlick, the school business manager, in the Willits Charter School office.

Photo: Sam Wolson, Special To The Chronicle

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Eli Erlick, 17, a transgender student, above, at the charter school she attends in Willits (Mendocino County).

Eli Erlick, 17, a transgender student, above, at the charter school she attends in Willits (Mendocino County).

Photo: Sam Wolson, Special To The Chronicle

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Eli Erlick, 17, a transgender student, above, at the charter school she attends in Willits (Mendocino County).

Eli Erlick, 17, a transgender student, above, at the charter school she attends in Willits (Mendocino County).

Photo: Sam Wolson, Special To The Chronicle

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Eli Erlick, 17, a transgender student in her school the Willits Charter School on Wednesday March 13th 2013.

Eli Erlick, 17, a transgender student in her school the Willits Charter School on Wednesday March 13th 2013.

Photo: Sam Wolson, Special To The Chronicle

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New state bill on transgender students

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Sacramento --

California public schools would be required to allow transgender students to use school facilities and participate in activities and on sports teams that match their gender identity under a bill introduced at the Capitol.

State law already prohibits schools from discriminating on the basis of gender identity, but backers of the measure, AB1266, say some schools and school districts don't provide access to restrooms, locker rooms or sports teams that align with the identity of transgender students.

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"Transgender boys are boys, and transgender girls are girls, and this bill ensures they are treated as such," said Masen Davis, executive director of the Transgender Law Center, which is backing the bill introduced by Assemblyman Tom Ammiano, D-San Francisco.

Barring a transgender student from using a locker room that aligns with his or her gender identity can create barriers to achieving needed credits for graduating, backers said, and stopping a student from participating on a sports team diminishes involvement in school.

They said some students feel unsafe at school when they are required to use a restroom that doesn't match their gender identity. The proposed law includes the phrase that the access to programs, facilities and activitiesshall be granted "irrespective of the gender listed on the pupil's records."

Opponents say the proposal is extreme and could result in male and female students sharing locker rooms or showering together.

Karen England, executive director of the Capitol Resource Institute, a Sacramento-based organization that opposes many gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender rights bills at the Capitol, said there is no legal requirement for how one determines a gender identity, and that leaves the school situation open for abuse.

"It is solely at the discretion of their opinion of themselves," she said. "We should not be mandating state law based on that."

Current law does not specify how schools should accommodate transgender students, and England said that's a good thing because it allows local districts to make their own determinations.

Several school districts already have policies that mandate the kinds of access specified in the bill, including the Los Angeles Unified School District and the San Francisco Unified School District.

S.F.'s longtime policy

The San Francisco policy has been in place since the mid to early 1990s, and district officials know of about 150 current middle school students and 300 high school students who identify as transgender, said Kevin Gogin, the program manager in school health programs for the district. Those numbers come from a yearly survey the district gives to students and represent about 1.5 percent of those enrolled.

San Francisco Unified, Gogin said, is the only public school district in the country to survey whether students identify as transgender as part of a larger risk behavior questionnaire funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Students must identify as a certain gender "exclusively and consistently" and officials work with them to ensure they have access to the same activities and facilities as other students of that gender, Gogin said.

He said there have been no problems with students claiming to be transgender when they are not, nor have there been complaints from parents.

"These are students who have a sense that their gender identity is not matching the sex they were born with," he said.

What kind of assistance a transgender student receives depends on the individual's needs, he said.

Elsewhere in California, transgender students have sought policies like the proposed state law.

Eli Erlick, a 17-year-old senior at Willits Charter School in Mendocino County, said she first came out as transgender at her school when she was in third grade. Support for her grew over time, and she transitioned when she was 13. At the time she said she was the only transgender student who was out, but now there are two other transgender students in Willits.

Lobbied other schools

Eli has lobbied several dozen school districts, including her own, to adopt policies for transgender students similar to Ammiano's bill. She said concerns about what school facilities transgender students use ignores reality for those students.

"The reality is there's not going to be girls in the (men's) locker room. This is about girls allowed to use the girls bathroom," she said.

The organization overseeing high school athletics in California already has a policy for transgender students who want to play sports on teams that conform with their gender identity. The bill would be in line with that policy, said Roger Blake, executive director of the California Interscholastic Federation.

The policy reads, "All students should have the opportunity to participate in CIF activities in a manner that is consistent with their gender identity, irrespective of the gender listed on a student's records."

The federation has established a review process for transgender students and students can appeal decisions if they disagree with them.

Blake called the policy "the gold standard," and said it was developed in collaboration with the National Center for Lesbian Rights, an organization that supports Ammiano's bill.

"We already have a policy that is great and in place and will help kids," he said.

Gov. Jerry Brown has so far been reluctant to sign into law measures that mandate how local officials make certain decisions, but Ammiano, who introduced the bill, said a state measure is needed.

Lack of uniformity

He said a lack of uniformity means "you maybe have somebody treated badly in one school district," and they can't get out of the district into one that is accommodating.

Joel Baum, who is director of training and education at the organization Gender Spectrum, which helps train teachers and schools on gender issues, said the debate over the bill should not minimize it into being the "bathroom bill."

"Use of restrooms and lockers is, I would argue, a tactic that misses the point. This isn't about any one practice," he said. "It's a bill about creating an inclusive environment."